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Run, Clarissa, Run

by Rachel Eliason

Giveaway ends December 31, 2012.

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Lin-dows FO (Fake Out) edition

For all my Linux friends out there, this post is for you.

Do you have a techno-phobe in your life/family? If so you've probably heard a lot of "This doesn't look like Windows. Why doesn't this look like Windows? Leave my Windows alone, I am happy with it." The truth is that most people are creatures of habit. They are simply not like us Linux geeks.

If you are computer geek of any stripe, but particularly if you are a Linux geek, a new device, machine or even screen makes us swoon. We gleefully start tapping buttons and dragging icons and menus around, trying to figure out what this new system can do.

For many people learning a new computer system is hard work. When suddenly confronted with a screen that looks different from what they are used to they get terrified. When they can't find a program or file where they expect it to be they get frustrated.

There is good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad news. If you live with a technophobe brace yourself. You are going to be hearing the above refrain a lot. Why? Because Windows 8 isn't going to look much like Windows. They have a whole new desktop that they will start unrolling next month. It's going to freak a lot of people out.

Now for the good news. It's the perfect time to try lin-dows FO, the linux-windows fake out.

This is a screenshot of Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop installed. I've put a nice traditional blue background on it and added icons to the desktop for all the common program a non-technical user might want, web browsers, libre office, etc. You've got a nice little pop-up menu in the lower left corner, exactly where Windows XP users expect it to be. They can double click icons on the desktop to open programs, just like classic Windows format. As long as they don't do anything crazy (like try to configure something or download a new program) without consulting you first they should be fine. They can surf the web like it's 1997!

Seriously I am not suggesting you trick your non-technical family member into thinking they have an old version of Windows. What I  am suggesting is that every time Microsoft does a big upgrade, like it's about to with Windows 8, Linux has a moment of opportunity. 

Once again their will be computers, older computers and lower cost computers that won't be able to upgrade successfully. They won't have enough RAM, or fast enough processor speeds or something. Some users will limp along, running XP but complaining the whole time because it won't run the latest software. Some will go out and shell out several hundred dollars for a new system. The old computer will sit in a closet gathering dust even though it works just fine. Why not breathe new life into an old machine with Linux? Linux is easy on resources. Many older laptops that won't run the latest Windows will run just fine in Linux. 

Once again we will have Windows users complaining about having to relearn the system. Before spending weeks relearning Windows so you can use 8, why not spend a little time testing out Linux. Contrary to the myth, Linux is no harder to learn than Windows or Mac. Distributions like Ubuntu have large and active help forums. As the screenshot I've shared shows, if there is even one geek in the family they can easily set the system up so that non-geeks can easily find web browsers, email and other commonly used programs.

A Dirty Campaign?

A lot of people are saying that this election is really dirty, that both candidates are launching tons of attack ads and nobody is focused on the real issues or engaged in a real debate. As some one who has been interested in politics since my parents let me stay up late to watch Jimmy Carter win in 1976 (I was six), I have to disagree.

I don't think there has been an election in our lifetime where there has been so many substantial differences between the two candidates, nor has their been an election that has been so driven by issues. The problem is that one candidate is a liar and a whiner. Here's how I see the campaign so far:

Romney: "Let's focus on the economy. The economy is the biggest issue facing America. I am the better candidate to fix the economy because I have a background in business. I ran a business successfully for many years before going into politics."

Obama: "Do you mean Bain? Didn't you gut that company, send the jobs overseas and run it into the ground?"

Romney: "No that was after I left. It was doing good when I left."

Obama: "Really, according to public records you were CEO from..."

Romney: "Let's not talk about the economy. Character, that's what matters in a president."

Obama: "What about the allegations that you held down a gay kid and shaved his head in college? What does that say about your character?"

Romney: "I don't recall that, and I didn't mean character, I meant transparency. Obama's record on transparency leave a lot to be desired."

Obama: "Have you disclosed your tax records yet?"

Romney: "This isn't about my transparency. Quit attacking me!"

Akin (in the background): "Blah, blah, blah, legitimate rape, blah, blah, shut it down, blah, blah"

Obama: "Wow that was really offensive!"

Romney: "Healthcare! let's all talk about healthcare! Obamacare is awful."

Obama: "Actually we based it mostly on your plan."

Romney: "Quit attacking me!"

Etc. Etc. Etc.

The point is that this election campaign has almost been entirely made up of Romney and the Republicans lying about stuff and Obama and the Democrats calling them on it. Now they are trying to point the finger back at the Democrats by calling this personal attacks. I am not buying it.

If Romney wants to run on the economy and on his business experience, I am going to use what he did at Bain to judge him. If he wants to brand himself a "job creator" then his record at Bain and while he was governor of Massachusetts is pertinent to that claim. If he wants to talk about government spending, how he manages his own finances is important.

(That's why I am not running for president. Let's face it, I am terrible at budgeting. Put me in the White House we'll all be lucky if the water bill gets paid, let alone the deficit.)

Mitt wants to talk about family values and character, so how he treats his dog and how he treated an unpopular kid in college speaks volumes about his character. Mitt wants to talk about his ability to lead this country. His disastrous European vacation gives us some clue how the rest of the world might view a Romney presidency and what sort of foreign policy leadership he might have.

And yet when someone points these sort of things out, they call it an attack. Sorry, that's not how it works. If you want to be president, dish. We The People have a right to know. How can we judge your ability to run the country if you can't see how you've ran your life?

Meanwhile on the flip side of things, the Romney campaign has attacked Obama again and again. They've lied, like when they said he scrapped the work for welfare program. They've bent the truth about Obamacare, his spending record and numerous other things. They have denied him due credit from taking out Osama Bin Laden and ending the war in Iraq. And when he stands up for himself they accuse him of running a dirty campaign.

Is this a tough campaign? Yes. Is it a dirty campaign? Not so much. Our nation is facing some tough times and we need be very careful about who we elect to run this country for the next four years. If Romney isn't tough enough to face and answer tough questions, he needs to get out of this race.

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I haven't blogged in a long time now. I keep meaning to get back to it and maybe I will. However for now here's a little something to go with my upcoming Accessline article. I'll post the link when the article goes out.

What do you think of this cover? Please leave comments good, bad or indifferent.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world...

those who understand binary and those who don't.

(for those who don't get the joke, binary is a computer code made up entirely of ones and zeros. Ten doesn't exist in binary only 1/0.)

Gender is also a binary equation. There are two possibilities, male and female. While much has been written recently within the trans community about the terms transgender and transsexual, the emotional component of that debate can be summed up easily in the above joke. There are two kinds of people in this world, those that are comfortable with the gender binary and those that aren't.

This can be seen readily in most walks of life. Straight people aren't immune from the gender binary. There are those that fit easily into the correct classification, girly girls or manly men. There are those that don't. Amongst those that don't there are those that are quite comfortable with themselves and those that aren't. I have straight male friends that are very comfortable with their feminine attributes. The majority of straight people however hide or are uncomfortable with any significant gender variance.

Gay people too struggle with the gender binary. There is a long and ongoing debate about gender variance in the gay community. Many gay men argue that they are “just like other men” and that any real or perceived gender variance is a stereotype. Others continue to insist that gay men show a much higher level of gender variance.

Trans people struggle the most openly with our societies binary. It might be easy for an outsider to assume that all trans people fall into the “uncomfortable with the gender binary” group, that we are the ultimate gender outlaws. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact I would say that the trans community is just about evenly divided between those that can't understand the gender binary and those that are quite happy with it, with the sole exception of where they have personally been placed in it.

One group, typically associated with the word Transgender, views gender as a spectrum. For them there are 10 (ten) kinds of people. Everyone has a gender that falls somewhere on a scale of one to ten. One is male, 10 is female. Not all women score a perfect ten nor do all men score a one. Instead our gender is somewhere near one side or another and we live with the sex we are born as. Or it doesn't and we are transgender. If a male is a four on the gender scale he may be happy living as a man, but occasionally feel the need to express his feminine side through crossdressing. A born male who scores a 7 might live as a woman but not feel the need for SRS, whereas an nine or ten on the same scale might need to fully transition to be happy.

The other group, typically associated with the word Transsexual, views gender as a binary. For them there are 1/0 kinds of people, male/female. Gender expression may be on a spectrum, but gender is not. A woman might be “butch” and gender non-conforming but she's still a woman. A cross dresser might have a feminine side but this does not make him a woman. You are one or the other. From the perspective of a gender binary, transition is going from one binary to the other. Stopping in between simply doesn't compute.

One of the greatest gifts I got from the LGBT community is the idea that you are who you are. There is no point arguing about it, just deal. This is true if you born gay, straight or Trans. It's also true if you were born comfortable with the binary or not. The Transsexuals need to stop referring to (and preferably stop thinking of) Transgender as freaks because they (the transsexuals) can't comprehend living inbetween genders. The Transgender for their part, need to stop implying that transsexual are not as enlightened because we are happy within the binary. We have enough real world issues in common to work on, we need bury the hatchet on this one.

I am discovering through my transition, that I am more of a binary person than I would have thought. While I support the transgender umbrella, and want us to be a whole community, I identify myself as a woman first and a transsexual second. I support the rights of those who are gender variant, but now that I have transitioned my own behavior doesn't qualify. I am pretty much a normal woman, the only variance is my history.

Biking for the economy

Gas prices are through the roof right now. Thanks to shipping costs, high gas prices are pushing up the price on just about everything else. As far as anyone can tell, high prices at the pump are likely to continue into the foreseeable future.

Those prices are threatening to sabotage the economy. It's not exactly been at its strongest the last couple of years as it is, and it doesn't take much to knock it back down. The average family is spending a larger and larger chunk of their income on gas, and that means less for any consumer spending that might actually help the economy.

I have a simple solution, bike commuting. Bike commuting has numerous advantages, but what I like best is that it works on so many possible levels.

On an individual level bike commuting can reduce how much we spend on gas. How much we can save depends on how much we can bike. Everybody's life is different and how much one can do will depend on their level of physical fitness and on how far they live from work, etc. But at nearly four dollars a gallon, I figure I can save about 22 cents for every mile I am on my bike, and it adds up pretty quickly.

The thing about gas is that it's a prime example of a consumable expense. Once you buy the gas and drive around, you have nothing left to show for the money spent. It doesn't increase your quality of life in the long term at all. Any money you can save on gas is money that can potentially be spent on something that will increase your quality of life.

There are also a number of indirect savings that can be gotten from bike commuting. Cars don't just burn gas, they break down. They require maintenance. The less you drive the less you spend on these things too. Our sedentary lifestyle is slowly killing us. Obesity is out of control in our society and it comes with many health problems. Bikes burn calories, not gas. The potential health care dollars saved by the occasional bike ride is a definite plus.

All that's on an individual level. What about society and the economy? They benefit too. High gas prices benefit a handful of large corporations in the oil industry. They weren't exactly hurting to begin with. Now they are posting record profits.

Only is some Republican voodoo economic dream does money in the hands of a rich corporation equally economic growth. The rich spend their money on big bonus to themselves, and corporate take overs. The only sure way to get economic growth is consumer demand. When people start buying things, industries start making more things, and they have to hire people to do that. If people are spending all their money on gas, they aren't buying things. No matter how many tax breaks the Republicans push through, until there is a demand no business is going to start hiring.

Bike commuting would create an immediate demand for bikes and a number of bike accessories. Many people have recreational bikes in their garage or basement. The difference between a recreational bike and commuter bike is a rack or basket. A rack runs forty dollars or so, basket about that much each. Given what I've already said about gas, bike commuting could increase almost any sort of consumer spending by reducing how much we are wasting on gas right now.

The indirect benefits to society are immense as well. Imagine the health benefits and health care savings if a sizable percentage of U.S. Population started exercising five days a week. Then there are the benefits to our roads if we reduced the amount of traffic. It would add up quickly. There is also a substantial benefit for the planet in lower emissions.

Bike commuting would help small business. Since I have made it my goal to bike as much as possible I look at shopping differently. I am not going to bike or drive several miles to the edge of town where Walmart is, nor do I wish to load my bike down with too much stuff. Short trips to the local market is good for small businesses.

The benefits of bike commute are incremental. We don't have to have a hundred percent commitment from a hundred percent of the population. Anyone who is capable of riding their bike for even a portion of their commuting can immediately start saving money. If even a small percentage of the population would do this, the benefits for society would quickly materialize as well.